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Idaho Irrigators Like Runoff by Associated Press Capital Press - July 19, 2002

TWIN FALLS, Idaho -- A nearly perfect spring runoff into the Snake River reservoir system is helping south-central Idaho Irrigators get by in another dry year.

With the reservoirs down 1 million acre-feet below 2001 levels at the start of the season, many canal companies and irrigation districts worried how long the water would last. Even thought the snowpack was better than the 2000-01 season, it still was not enough to provide much comfort.

But off-and-on cool weather in April and May helped bring the snow down quickly to the reservoirs where it could be stored for later in the season.

"We accumulated more storage than expected," said Mark Croghan with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in Burley.

Croghan is quick to point out that 2002 runoff is far from normal. The April-through-July 9 runoff generated 2.867 million acre-feet of water, about two-thirds of average.

But it is better than 2001, when just 1.46 million acre-feet -- 46 percent of the 30-year average -- came down the river.